Microsoft faces workers' ire

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MUMBAI: The world''s largest software maker, Microsoft, is moving several hundred support jobs from the United States to Bangalore, according to US media reports. <br /><br />Fuelling the ongoing backlash against outsourcing technology jobs to India, the move has led to an outcry by the Seattle-based Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, which claims that at least 800 jobs will be lost to India.<br /> <br />US media reports quote union sources who have gathered this information from current and former workers, claiming that hundreds of jobs will be lost.<br /><br />Microsoft support centres, part of the company''s product-support services division, in Sammamish, Los Colinas, Texas, and Charlotte (North Carolina) are likely to be most affected. Each of these three sites employs 800 people. <br /><br />A Microsoft Corporation India spokesperson, while declining to comment on the number of US jobs that will now be outsourced, said, "Microsoft has announced a pilot programme in Bangalore to support select professional products. Over the next few months, we will hire 100 support professionals in India as part of the pilot."<br /><br />Washington Alliance of Technology Workers president Marcus Courtney said the information (on moving jobs to India) completely contradicts Microsoft''s public position that the impact of their focus on sending work abroad is not going to affect US employees. "Clearly, Microsoft is starting to cut its US workforce and send work abroad to slash its labour costs."<br /><br />The alliance''s ire is a reflection of the growing resistance in the US to outsourcing IT jobs to India. It has launched a campaign called the ''Great Tech Job Exodus'' urging elected officials to stop US companies from outsourcing from cheaper labour markets. <br /><br />Although New Jersey Senator Shirley Turner''s Bill calling for a ban on outsourcing by government companies has been withdrawn, Congressman John Mica of Florida has introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives to ban outsourcing of L-1 (inter-transfer company visas) quota employees to client sites. <br /><br />Microsoft''s US spokesperson Stacy Drake has stated that the software maker is yet to decide on how many people will be affected. "There may be some impact in the next year on our US sites," she said to <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Seattle Times</span>. <br /><br />Microsoft founder Bill Gates, during his visit to India last November, had announced that Microsoft would deepen its commitment to India by making investments of roughly Rs 2,000 crore over the next three years in several areas, including education, partnerships, innovation, localisation, as well as its development centres.</div> </div>